How To

First Aid for Eye Injuries

Steps to Follow:

1. Make patient comfortable
2. Flush eye with water
3. Dress the eye
4. Call for medical help

1. Make patient comfortable

Ask the patient to sit down and not to move their eyes or rub them. Take care not to touch any part of the eye or contact lenses. With one hand, hold the patients head still by holding it close to your body as you stand behind.

2. Flush eye with water

Use only cool flowing water to gently irrigate the eye. For chemical or smoke injuries, or heat related burns, flush the eye for at least 20 minutes continuously.

3. Dress the eye

Use a sterile pad or eye dressing to cover the eye socket completely. Do not apply any pressure to, or attempt to remove penetrating foreign objects. Ask the patient to hold the dressing in place. Bandage over the dressing to keep it in place, completely covering the injured eye.

If the injury is a penetration injury, place sterile pads around the protruding object, taking care not to move it and bandage in place.

4. Call for medical help.